Prevention Watch is a regular Scottish Health Equity Research Unit (SHERU) briefing that looks at prevention as a means of public service delivery to reduce health inequalities in Scotland. By prevention, we are referring to public policy interventions that prevent poor outcomes in the future, as opposed to policy which intervenes to mitigate harms once they have already occurred or subsequently deals with the consequences.
At SHERU our focus is on the socioeconomic determinants of health inequalities. In other words we’re concerned with preventing poor health outcomes by tackling causes that sit outwith the traditional realm of health policy the healthcare system. To take one example, damp and mould in a home can cause respiratory disorders. Rather than the NHS treating the illness, a preventative approach would fix the damp and mould.
The arguments set out in the Christie Commission in 2011 are the same arguments being made by health leaders in 2024. For example, reflecting on Scotland’s ageing population, the Chief Executive of Public Health Scotland, Paul Johnston, has recently argued that “we have no option really other than to work very hard to increase our prevention focus…because the reality is that we cannot afford continue to deal with the entirely preventable harm that the NHS faces day in day out”.
This briefing is created to shine a light on interesting prevention related developments. This might be new policy evaluations, blogs, or policy announcements… or whatever catches our eye.
In this edition we cover:
- Comments from the Auditor General on the importance of leadership in prevention
- Parliamentary scrutiny of the resource implications of prevention in relation to homelessness and suicide legislation
- The Chief Executive of Public Health Scotland on the poverty dimension of health outcomes
- The Scottish Government’s ‘vision for health and social care in Scotland’ and being clear what we mean by prevention
As this is the first brief we start with a recap on the Christie Commission and its recommendations on prevention.
